It applies in particular to the practice of aquatic activities that involve an at least partial immersion of the body of the wearer in water, whether permanently, for example for swimming or deep-sea diving, or occasionally, for example for windsurfing, surfing or jet-ski.
In a known manner, suits for this type of activity have a central portion intended to cover the torso of the wearer as a close fit, mainly for insulating him from water, in particular in the case of prolonged immersion in water with a low temperature, but also in order to improve his floatability and/or the fluidity of his movements, in particular in the framework of practicing swimming.
The central portion is formed between a ventral panel and a dorsal panel which are connected to one another laterally by creating an upper opening, two lateral openings and two lower openings for the passage of respectively the head, the two arms and the two legs of the wearer.
In certain embodiments, the upper opening can be surmounted by a hood intended to cover the head and the neck of the wearer by leaving his face exposed, which is in particular the case for suits intended for the practice of deep-sea diving.
Moreover, the lateral and/or lower openings can be provided with a sleeve for at least partially covering respectively the arms and the legs of the wearer, the sleeves being formed from a single part with the central portion or from separated parts that are added onto the central portion.
The central portion, the hood and/or the sleeves can be made from a waterproof material and which has an elasticity that is sufficient to adjust them to the portion of the body of the wearer whereon they are arranged. To this effect, the use of neoprene is particularly advantageous, as it has, in addition to a good seal and good elasticity, good properties in terms of lightness, resistance to wear and shape memory.
Moreover, it is known to arrange on the ventral panel a main slit that extends between the upper opening and a lower end of the central portion, the main slit being equipped with a reversible opening device, for example a zip closure, to allow for the putting on and taking off of the suit by transversely separating the ventral panel.
However, due to the adjusting thereof to the body of the wearer, the putting on and taking off of such a suit is relatively difficult in practice, in particular for passing the shoulders, which form the widest zone of the torso of the wearer. Because of this, the wearer can be forced to ask for the assistance of another person, in particular by traction on the openings and/or the sleeves.
In order to attempt to overcome these disadvantages, it is known from document FR-1 561 257 a suit that further comprises an additional slit that extends substantially horizontally on a lower zone of the dorsal panel, the additional slit being provided with a zip closure in order to facilitate taking off the suit.
However, this solution does not provide entire satisfaction, in that the additional slit does not make it possible to sufficiently increase the extensibility of the main slit in order to genuinely facilitate the taking off of the suit. In particular, the additional slit is too far from the shoulders to facilitate the passage thereof through the main slit.